Users are frequently requested to be authenticated while accessing internet from terminal devices. Main reasons for the authentication are to protect user privacy and personal assets and to maintain a high level of cyber security. As a result, the execution of many operations, such as making an online payment, downloading from a certain database, or using a personal account, usually requires confirmation of the user's identity.
Present online authentication technologies often rely on terminal device binding. For example, the identity of the user is tied to a terminal device connected to the network by logging into a personal account on the terminal device and the terminal device is verified by installed digital certificates. As shown here, the user's identity is verified through the ownership of the terminal device.
However, such practice had low flexibility in situations when the ownership alters. For example, when the user buys a new computer, he/she cannot perform all operations mentioned above on this new device until digital certificates are installed, and the installation can be inconvenient and burdensome.